Within The Creed, Within The Effect
by sol113
Summary: Assassins Creed/Mass Effect crossover. Story of a young Shepard who goes from a simple colonist to Alliance Marine, to war veteran, to member of the ancient Order of Assassins...
1. Chapter 1

**WITHIN THE CREED, WITHIN THE EFFECT**

**21th April 2012**

**AUTHORS NOTES**

**This is an Assassins Creed/Mass Effect crossover.**

**'_This_' means someone is thinking.**

**Italics alone means the name of something, i.e. _Mass Effect Core_.**

**Horizontal ruler (a line across the page) means a page break or timeskip, may be a few minutes, may be a few hours...**

**-X- means a scene change.**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Assassins Creed, Mass Effect or any of the characters or ideas involved. This is non profit-I am making no money from this.**

* * *

**Mindoir, Attican Traverse, 2170**

A misty haze hung over the dark forest, the smells and sounds of the forest filtered back to the hunters who lay silently in a Muraberry patch- the dull coloured alien fruit hiding them from the prey they were stalking.

The hunters were Mark Shepard, 55 year old retired US Marine, veteran of the First contact war and eccentric father of three, the other was Clarice Shepard, 16 year old straight A student of Mindoir 1st High school, daughter of Systems Alliance doctor turned civilian doctor Jenifer Shepard and one of the few who tolerated her father's numerous eccentricities.

Clarice lay in a prone position, focusing on the target she saw through the scope of the M-92 Mantis sniper rifle into the forest lit by the dying afternoon night.

"Movement, your 3 O'clock." Whispered the elder Shepard.

The teen sniper shifted her rifles position noiselessly, located her target- the multispectral lens on the rifle gave her a clear view of the target. The rifles laser range finder and firing solution calculation equipment built in were off- the Shepard patriarch said the gizmos made a soldier lazy and demanded she calculate the variables in her head which as a maths wiz was easy;_ '157 meters, high wind... doesn't matter with mass accelerator weapons... holding centre mass...'_

Clarice gently exhaled and pulled back on the rifles custom modified trigger. A slug of metal- no larger than a grain of sand- flew through the air, tearing into flesh and emerging from the life forms opposite side taking pieces of heart, lungs and a fountain of blood with it.

"Nice shot, kid." Mark smiled at his daughter. They both stood up and stepped out of the fruit patch, pulling their Gillie suit hoods off; Clarice Shepard was a sight to behold; exotically beautiful with red hair, green eyes (both rare in an age of human interracial breeding), tanned skin and an attractive, slightly freckled face. Her father was not so appealing; he was a tall, wiry man with short, dark brown hair, a thick beard, dark brown eyes and deep lines crossing his angular face.

The pair walked (Mark walked, Clarice bounced happily) through the forest to their kill; a Mindoir Speckled Wild Boar. It wasn't a pig actually, not being from Earth and all- but it did look like one except for having reptile like feet instead of hooves and no hair.

_"What really mattered,"_ according to her father, _"Is that it tastes like pork when cooked and eaten."_

Also Speckled Boars merged the appearance of a pig with the attitude of a Wolverine, they could be dangerous, giving the beasts incentive to stay away from the human settlers was only frowned upon by animal first activists-_ "The damn hippies,"_ as Clarice's father repeatedly called them.

There were no laws forbidding hunting on Mindoir as the human population hadn't risen high enough to seriously threaten wildlife unlike on Earth which had suffered mass extinctions due to human overpopulation, damage from industrial pollution and the third World War.

They reached the corpse (Clarice wasn't bothered by the blood and gore having gone on too many hunting trips). Mark placed the body of the Boar in a special stainproof cover, picked the dead animal up and flung it over his shoulder jovially.

"That's your brother's going away meal taken care of, now all we need is the stripper for his party." He mused aloud.

"Not funny Dad." Clarice responded not shocked by her father's casual crudeness.

"Your mother didn't think it was funny either, why do you think I was sleeping on the coach this morning?"

Clarice laughed as the two of them set off back to town, and home.

**-X-**

The two made it back to town as the day ended.

Clarice smiled as she walked through the colony; as always, the place was full of life, vivid, diverse, much like the people who adventurously settled on the world two decades earlier.

Her father had gone off with the Boar to a friend's house to prepare it for the upcoming celebrations, leaving Clarice to return home alone.

The Shepard home consisted of three prefab housing units, rectangular in shape for the family of five; one 'box' for the kitchen and living room, one as living space for the parents and storage, and one for living quarters for the three children; first born Dean, middle child Clarice and youngest daughter Fiona. Each prefab unit, constructed from mass produced, lightweight sheets of polymers and ceramics could be modified a near infinite number of ways including partitions (the three children didn't sleep in the same room, likely the reason one of them hadn't been strangled yet). While the Shepard family weren't rich they had everything they needed; shelter, food, family and a TV with Extranet connection and a near infinite number of channels never watched.

Smiling at being home Clarice stepped into the 'Family Box' as her brother called it. The sterile white box was humanised by freshly cut Mindoir Dusk Bloom flowers (her mothers favourite), family pictures and a couple of pictures hanging on magnets.

A form blurred out from seemingly nowhere and caught Clarice in a crushing embrace.

"Gak! Hello mom!" She choked out.

Doctor Jenifer Shepard, a spacer by birth was an attractive woman with red hair and green eyes that she passed on to the daughter she was currently hugging/crushing. Her bone structure was softer than her daughters but she was taller than her daughter, a tool she used to full effect when chastising her (which was often). Formerly a Systems Alliance military doctor on the Cruiser _SSV Houston_, she retired to a civilian practice and became one of the Mindoir colonies first and most respected medical professionals while raising a family.

"Welcome home, long trip?" The mother released her teenage daughter from her hold.

Clarice adjusted her clothing slightly embarrassed at her mother's outburst. "Yeah, saw some sights and got a feast for Dean's going away party."

Jenifer suddenly looked exasperated. "I don't know why I humour your father. Did he at least carry the corpse this time?"

Clarice smiled at that, since settling on Mindoir, Mark Shepard had made it known that he needed food more natural than genetically modified crops and things that came out of cans. The animal life on Mindoir was edible to one who had grown up or been immunized to the planet's native virology.

"Clarice! Back from the wilderness." Clarice turned around to see the thirteen year old Fiona Shepard; she looked more like her father than Clarice with deep brown eyes, brown hair and a round face. In her petty moments Clarice teased her saying she looked plain.

"So, got a boyfriend yet?" Fiona cheekily chirped.

"Fiona." Her mother chided. The doctor had had a long day and wasn't in the mood for the standard Shepard family verbal jousting.

Clarice was unfazed, used to her sister's inexplicable crude and perverse attitude.

"No. They're intimidated by a strong, smart woman."

"Or they've been watching Asari porn and find you boring." She responded grinning.

Jennifer went white as a sheet then began almost trembling with rage. Clarice spoke slightly disturbed; "How the hell do you know about Asari porn?"

"They can mate with any species, any gender you know..." She continued amused.

"You're too young to be thinking about mating-" Her mother started.

"You know that don't you Dean?" Fiona shouted looking over Clarice's shoulder. Both daughter and mother turned to see the Shepard first born attempting to stealthily escape the area. He had a textbook _'Deer in the headlights'_ look on his face.

Dean Shepard, Spaceborn on an Alliance medical ship, and who looked like a shorter, teenaged version of his father retaliated with righteous toned spluttering;"Oh, I tell Mom you snuck out of the house last week risking your safety in childish antics and now you make up these horrid lies about me?"

"What lies would those be, Dean?" Jennifer had broken out of her shock and now turned to her son with full-on matriarchal coldness.

"...err..." He stammered.

"What was your favourite vid Dean?_ Asari Confessions 25?_ Or... what was that one with the high school student who has that Asari stripper for a personal tutor, or..."

Clarice decided to leave while her brother wished he could sink into the ground and disappear under his mothers gaze.

"... or maybe the one with the sexy detective that goes undercover at a brothel..."

_'Forget sink into the floor, Dean's gonna get hammered into the floor...'_ She smirked meanly at her brother's plight.

**-X-**

Mindoir Plaza, Elliot family restaurant, the next day...

At several white, quick assemble tables sat the Shepard clan and other citizens of Mindoir, ranging from small children who ran around recklessly without a care in the world, to senior citizens who sat quietly with nostalgic look in their eyes.

The Boar Clarice shot had been roasted and was now being carved up for the feast.

Mark stood up and cleared his throat; "And now for the toast... Clarice?"

Clarice went wide eyed and looked at her father in angry panic. "What! Why do I have to do the speech! I suck at speeches!" She spluttered.

Her father showed no signs of caring about her distress. "Your mother did the last one, my throat is suddenly terribly sore and you're the responsible child here."

She stood up nervously. She hated public speaking.

"I suppose it's best I do this... Dad would encourage Dean's perverse or idiotic behaviour... Mom would bore us to sleep with her paragon of goodness routine..." The table responded to her good natured ribbing with chuckles.

"Dean dreams of being a doctor, despite rubbing everyone the wrong way, despite being an annoying, obnoxious, perverse, loud and generally more annoying than a Salarian Evangelist..."

"Hey!"

"...he genuinely wants to help and alleviate suffering. So we all wish him the very best, and to be safe."

"Yes, very safe." Jenifer cut in with a stern look at her son that said;_ 'Stay away from blue women'_.

"You're all nuts. But you're my family... and I can't imagine being anywhere else but here."

They all raised their glasses, looking across the table with lingering affectionate gazes.

**-X-**

The next day...

"The Abstergo disaster?"

Clarice nodded. "Basically, on Earth back in 2012, one of the largest megacorporations on the planet of the time was found to have been involved in a list of crimes including supporting global terrorism, murder, rigging elections, even illegal experimentation on humans-"

"Bo-ring. Who cares about something that happened on Earth 150 years ago? Wouldn't it be more relevant to do something on the Genophage, or the Quarians?"

Sophie Landry; Clarice's best friend, blond, blue eyed and as always, dressed in a nauseatingly girly frilly outfit of bright reds and spotless whites chatted away as she did every morning. Clarice continued unfazed by her interruption;

"... Mrs Rosamond wants an essay on the trials of the Abstergo conspirators and the effect it had on world politics afterwards. At least 50,000 words. Here's a copy of my notes, don't copy and paste them this time."

Sophie accepted the datapad. "Is it my fault my body doesn't handle non-Earth environments as well as yours?"

The two teenage girls walked by the Matthias river which ran through the middle of the Mindoir colony on their way to school, the morning was beautiful, the air was warm, the sun was dazzlingly bright, very few people were around, those present travelled by foot, bicycle or electric scooter.

Clarice always took this route to school, the sounds of the river flowing soothed her, the smell of the recently cut grass further improved the feeling.

"Onto revelations that actually matter; Ross finally asked me out! This Friday!" Clarice's best friend at school gushed, showing a smile so wide and girlish it was almost disturbing to look at. Clarice nodded and made a mental note to kill Sophie's paramour if he broke her heart or mistreated her.

Clarice suspected the slightly hyperactive blond dressed and acted excessively girly to compensate for her friends tomboyishness; today for example she wore baggy beige cargo pants, a dark green top and hiking boots. The Shepard girl never wore any stereotype female clothing or makeup.

And she hated the colour pink.

**-X-**

Clarice was uncomfortable talking about boys so the conversation moved on to talking about the future.

"I want to work in education, you know teaching children. What about you?" Sophie was good with kids and had a passion for the work (which was always good for dealing with those genetically predetermined to hate you).

"...I'm keeping my options open, Soph."

In truth Clarice wasn't sure of her future; she knew she wasn't going to be a doctor like her mother or brother, farming and other colony life bored her. She wasn't sure if her Dad taught her skills he had learnt during his military service (she knew how to fire a handgun, machine gun, sniper rifle before she knew how to handle a bra, knew Marine CQB before she knew about PMS) to subtly nudge her towards the System Alliance military or just to give her tools to survive in a dangerous galaxy.

She had just made it past the colonial defence militia base when Clarice suddenly got a weird feeling; a throbbing warmth originating in her head, then spreading out to become a tingling through her entire body. Her body froze, like an instinct that compelled an animal to stay still to avoid detection by a predator.

_'What is this feeling...?'_

A noise erupted from the sky.

A building behind Clarice exploded; she turned just in time to be thrown flying by the shockwave. Her schoolbag was wrenched from her grasp and hurled into the river.

Coughing and choking, the dirtied teens struggled to their feet. Twisted wreckage of the colonial militia GARDIAN laser towers and the outlines of flying machines that may have been shuttles or gunships were all Clarice could see besides fire and smoke.

Screams added to further explosions and Clarice turned to see the Mindoir colony- idyllic only a minute ago set ablaze.

The bizarre; familiar, yet unidentifiable grew stronger, though this time it didn't freeze her, it compelled her to look away from the fireballs and into the sky; ships appeared from the clouds. She didn't recognize the type- but knew they weren't Alliance. They fired upon the helpless colony and in a flash Clarice knew what they were; _'Pirates... they... oh God, Mom, Fiona, Dean, Dad...'_

"Clarice... what... oh God... oh God..."

Clarice grabbed Sophie by her shoulders snapping her out of her panicked babbling.

"Sophie! The colony has shelters for things like meteor showers right? Go to the nearest one!"

Sophie nodded. "Right... right..." She panicked and gripped hold of Clarice tight when she saw her turn to run off. "Wait! Don't leave me!"

"I'm going after my family! I'll meet you at the shelter!" She shook her arm free and raced off. Hearing Sophie's screams in the distance.

"I'll be back for you!" She shouted as she ran.

She ran into the besieged colony, once almost a paradise, now screaming and gunfire roared deafeningly loud, people ran and hid under furniture or equipment, others stampeded in terror.

An old man went down face first, a puddle of blood seeping out from under him.

A kid frantically pedalling on an ancient looking bicycle was shot in the back as he tried to escape pedalling furiously on the primitive vehicle.

The fields were burning, the crops that made Mindoir self sufficient were burning.

Clarice ignored it all, only wanting to get to her family. Focusing on getting home, that goal was the only way to stop the terror from drowning her.

Things seemed to move in slow motion- even the screams were dragged out.

_'How? How did this happen?'_

Clarice ran through the 'streets' (gaps between the prefab units really) with tunnel vision. She caught her first glimpse of the invaders; brightly coloured armoured strangers swarming with their faces hidden behind helmets and big guns.

_'Cowards!'_ The thought came to Clarice right before she leapt to one side as a wall exploded sending hot metal, plastic and ceramics flying through the air.

Clarice stared in horror as she saw from a distance her brother stagger clutching his stomach- a fountain of blood behind him flowing from his back, trickles from around his hands in front- for a second, then he fell.

"Dean?" Was all Clarice could dully say.

An armoured figure stepped into view. It turned to look at Clarice snapping her out of her horrified stare. She took off at her greatest speed as the figure opened fire on her exploding earth and the building around her with what Clarice knew was modded rifle fire. _'Incendiary rounds! Fucking incendiary rounds!'_

She ran, heart pounding, sweat and tears in her eyes, legs and arms pounding.

Finally she found the white rectangle she called home. Gunshots flashed inside.

"No!"

The door opened. Her father tumbled out, blood leaking from holes in his chest and back. Clarice stared down at him in horror as his body seized and his eyes went blank. Dead.

She looked up from her father's corpse. Inside the prefab home she saw the bodies of her mother and sister on the floor besides a grotesque looking four eyed alien lying against the wall with holes in his torso.

She ran to them, faltering and falling to her knees just in front of them. She grabbed them and hugged them tight, not noticing the still warm blood seeping into her shirt and pants.

"Oh no... no... no... this can't.." She broke down sobbing. Her foot connected with something solid. She looked up from her family's bodies and saw it; her father's Mantis sniper rifle- recently fired, most likely on the dead intruder lying against the wall.

Clarice stared at it for an eternity. She gently placed her dead mother and younger sister down on the blood slick white tiled floor. Wiping away tears she bent down, picked up the rifle, left the room without a look back and stepped over her father's corpse.

She climbed to the top of the rectangular gravesite, settled into a prone position on her ruined homes roof, and looked through the Mantis' scope for targets.

She found one; a grotesque looking, four eyed alien with showing hideous needle like teeth as it grinned at something.

Clarice focused the targeting sight on a point between the lower two eyes. The rifles laser range finder and firing solution calculation equipment built in were off- _'114 meters, high wind... doesn't matter with mass accelerator weapons...'_ Clarice gently exhaled and pulled back on the rifles custom modified trigger...

* * *

**END CHAPTER 1**

**AUTHORS** **NOTES**

Shepard is Femshep because the protagonists from the Assassin creed games are all male.

The 'weird feeling' Clarice got when the slavers attacked was Eagle Vision- or at least a variation of it- this isn't a video game so I can't present the Assassin's sixth sense as a visual effect. Shepard has empathic abilities- she can't read minds but can sense emotions and track individuals via psychic resonance to a certain level.

I got the idea for this chapter from Assassins Creed 2 where at the beginning of the game you get to know Ezio's family which makes it more painful when they get killed. The next chapter will skip ahead to Clarice joining the System's Alliance.

The name Clarice comes from Clarice Starling from _'The Silence of the Lambs'_.

* * *

**CODEX**

**Earth**

The homeworld and capital of the humanity is entering a new golden age after the most destructive 200 years in human history. The resource wealth of a dozen settled colonies and a hundred industrial outposts flows back to Earth, fuelling great works of industry, commerce, and art. The great cities are greening as arcology skyscrapers and telecommuting allow more efficient use of land.

Earth is still divided among nation-states, though all are affiliated beneath the overarching banner of the Systems Alliance. While every human enjoys longer and better life than ever, the gap between rich and poor widens daily. Advanced nations have eliminated most genetic disease. Less fortunate regions have not progressed beyond 20th century technology, and are often poisonous, overpopulated slums or radioactive wastes.

Sea levels have risen significantly due to melting of the polar ice caps, and global temperatures have dropped by one degree centigrade due to lingering atmospheric contamination caused by the use of Mass Drivers during the third World War. Certain regions have dangerously high levels of chemical toxins and radioactivity and violent weather is common due to environmental damage inflicted during the late 21st century. Travel beyond Megatropolis' or other controlled environments is not recommended. The past few decades, however, have seen significant improvement in all areas due to recent technological advances.

**The Abstergo Disaster**

In the year 2012, evidence was leaked to worldwide governments, media and onto the internet of a global conspiracy involving Abstergo Industries, one of the largest and most prominent multinational corporations of the time. The conspiracy accused Abstergo and several front companies of committing countless crimes dating back the company's official founding in 1937, implicating world leaders, religious institutions, captains of industry and countless scientists, businessmen and other people of note of a seemingly endless list of high crimes against humanity.

While many of the more fantastic charges levelled against Abstergo and their associates (such as allegations of research into human mind control and research on extraterrestrial technology) were rejected, numerous powerful figures including Abstergo's upper echelon of employees, former president George W Bush, CEO's and scientists from half a dozen other corporations were convicted of various capital offences including supporting global terrorist organisations, murder, trafficking of weapons and narcotics, illegal experimentation on humans and high treason.

During the trials several horrifying truths came to light, most damaging was the revelation that the 2003 invasion and subsequent war in Iraq was incited and orchestrated by Abstergo; via the corporation first arming and training the terrorist organisation Al-Qaeda (It was believed by some that Bin Laden was in fact a low-ranking member of the secret society), rigging the US 2000 election to place George W Bush as president, and profiteering from weapons and oil sales from the Middle East conflict.

These facts were verified by Mr Bush who claimed as part of a plea bargain at his trial that he was indeed a member of a secret society (not unlike the fabled Illuminati) that sought to control the world and create a New world order (his plea bargain was unsuccessful and he, along with his co-conspirators were sentenced to life imprisonment).

The political, social and economic fallout from the trials was catastrophic and became a leading reason for the Global Civil unrest that plagued Earth for decades to come.


	2. Moments in time

**WITHIN THE CREED, WITHIN THE EFFECT**

**CHAPTER 2- MOMENTS IN TIME**

**1st AUGUST 2012**

**AUTHORS NOTES**

**This is an Assassins Creed/Mass Effect crossover. Apologies for the length between updates.  
**

**'_This_' means someone is thinking.**

**Italics alone means the name of something, i.e. _Mass Effect Core_.**

**Horizontal ruler (a line across the page) means a page break or timeskip, may be a few minutes, may be a few hours...**

**-X- means a scene change.**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Assassins Creed, Mass Effect or any of the characters or ideas involved. This is non profit-I am making no money from this.**

* * *

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain... Time to die.

* * *

**2172**

"After having been duly appraised of the meaning and consequences of this oath, I hereby enrol in the Systems Alliance for no less than four years and as much longer as may be required for the security and success of the human race..."

Two years, twenty two days had passed since what was now being called "The Mindoir massacre". Two years, twenty days since Clarice and a handful of survivors had been rescued by the Alliance. Two years, nineteen days since a counsellor aboard the SSV Einstein recited all the reassurances, platitudes and other things you were supposed to say to a victim of trauma or someone who might otherwise be crazy.

One year, three hundred fifty two days since Clarice Shepard was legally emancipated and given a new life on Elysium, working as a technician in the capital city of Illyria.

Less than a minute since she officially joined the Alliance military; she stood in the parade square at Camp Xenophon, just outside Illyria and recited the Systems Alliance oath- the words were hollow, meaningless, the oath, the training, were all a means to an end...

* * *

**Elysium, Later that year...**

Clarice Shepard, now recruit Shepard, stood in the grey, cramped barracks (the meat box some called it) with her fellow recruits watching a holographic vid screen normally used only to relay information for training purposes. The drill instructors were making an exception given the worsening political situation with the Batarian Hegemony.

"_We will show the Batarian Hegemony and the criminals they arm that we cannot be terrorized or defeated."_ The Alliance prime minister, Ganya Makarov declared. Makarov was a tall man of surprisingly 'pure' Caucasian appearance; light blue eyes, pale skin lightly tanned, his silver hair was meticulously combed, his beard neatly trimmed, his suit, made from Asari fabrics costing as much as a skycar. He continued on in a practiced political tone; _"I have asked our brave Alliance Navy what they need to defeat this threat..."_

'_What we need?'_ Clarice thought. _'Let's start with Mass drivers to drop asteroids on a few Batarian worlds, then let's move on to bio weapons exclusively lethal to the squints, maybe a Death Star or some other cosmic super weapon...'_

A female news reporter, blue eyes and blond hair likely the result of gene mods in conjunction with several pounds of make up making her look about as natural as the cloned fish in Earths toxic oceans appeared on the screen; _"Council spokespersons still refute the evidence presented by the Systems Alliance proving the Batarian Hegemony's links to Slaver attacks..."_

A rumble of discontent washed through the assembled recruits ranging from angry disbelief to racist comments to allegations of conspiracy on the part of the aliens. All recruits knew that a showdown, and possibly full scale war with the four eyed bastards was inevitable and that there would be death on both sides, for the Council species to do nothing to help them was tantamount to betrayal in many humans eyes.

Clarice had control of the TV's channels- she had emerged as the barracks Queen Bee even before being chosen as a squad leader and no one dared to challenge her. She changed the channel, stabbing the holo interface controller with violent force. Another fake looking female reporter appeared, this one with a vacant, slow witted expression on her face and an annoying high pitched voice; _"Unsuccessful negotiations with the Citadel council to form a unified response to Batarian attacks have provoked responses from human colonies and here on Earth; the Terra Firma organisation intends to protest outside alien embassies while..." _

* * *

**2173**

Private Clarice Shepard stood frightened out in the dark street outside Camp Xenophon, her home for what seemed like years now, waiting for the transport that would take her to the spaceport and her first posting; the Frigate _SSV Actium_. From there, likely to war. She rubbed her neck. Her now shortened hair didn't reach it unless she bent her head back.

She had survived Alliance basic training and gene therapy courtesy of the slightly disturbing MarsGene corporation and was now a fully fledged marine; the ridiculously early mornings, the tasteless food, the monstrous Drill instructors, the brutal physical training, the startling amount of information to memorize and skills to master were all behind her.

Now she was off to serve, maybe fight, maybe die.

She took several deep breaths- it was early in the morning, the air was moist, cold, even after two years Clarice hadn't stopped noticing how different Elysium felt from Mindoir- the gravity was lighter, the air more... sugary? The view of the stars blotted out by light pollution never felt right either. Even the rain was different.

Another soldier approached from out the darkness. Clarice recognized him from her unit, but didn't know his name.

The unknown private looked to Shepard. While she may not know him, he knew her; to him she was the perfect soldier, always so cool, so calm. A true believer in her cause and the human race. Focused, eager to serve and always willing to help others.

"Shepard... what'll you think will happen when we get out there? I mean... will the Council and other races get involved? I mean they have to right?" The guy sounded like a kid, looked like it too, with baby fat and wide open eyes and a wavering voice. Clarice herself had only recently turned nineteen.

Clarice looked at the nervous Private trying hard not to look incredulous; _'I saw my family get slaughtered. I'm haunted, emotionally scarred, probably mentally unstable, scared shitless... and he wants me to reassure him?'_

"We, and the rest of the Alliance will finish this." She said with confidence she wasn't sure was real. "And we don't need the Council's help. We've advanced faster than any of the alien races and now the four eyed bastards are going to find out why."

She only said that because she had overheard higher ups saying the Council knew full well the criminals attacking human colonies were deniable operations carried out by the Hegemony- the ones in power simply didn't care if they weren't the ones being directly and immediately threatened. The Private seemed reassured, which Clarice wasn't sure how she should feel about.

She saw lights in the distance and she snapped to rigid attention. The lights, belonging to an H-fuel cell powered bus, stopped at Clarice and the unknown Privates feet. She got on showing none of the fear she felt inside. Her unidentified comrade followed close behind.

* * *

**Torfan; 2178**

2nd LT Shepard checked her Omni-tool on the status of the traps she had set.

After more than three years of small scale skirmishes with Batarian backed pirates and increasingly infuriating excuses from the Citadel Council the Alliance had escalated the conflict by locating the base of operating the myriad criminal organisations had been using as a base and staging ground for their attacks across Alliance space and intended to neutralise it.

Torfan was a moderately sized colony for the Batarians with a population of several million, that, coupled with the large amount of prisoners being held until they could be sold as slaves and the potential goldmine of information that may be found within, meant that the base couldn't simply be destroyed via orbital bombardment or vaporized with a nuke. Shepard was one of several teams of marines sent to infiltrate the underground complex and disable the jamming field and anti orbital cannons were keeping the larger Alliance ships at bay.

After successfully penetrating the base after a gruelling fire fight, they sought a control room; a way to disable the moons defensive cannons to bring in troop transports to put down troops and evac civilians being kept slave.

They entered a new room, what intel said was a simple cargo bay. The soldiers froze as they struggled to comprehend what they saw. Lt Shepard's eyes were like stone, she grit her teeth and struggled to hold back her anger as she gazed at what lay before her; slaves, mostly human, dressed in rags, dirty, bruised, bloodied, some starving. They were held squashed together in cages like wild animals. Gaines, the units medic rushed to the cages to attend to their medical needs while the rest of the unit moved about to secure the area.

Alarm klaxons blared as the cages opened and the slaves staggered, stumbled, crawled out.

'_What? Who opened the cages?'_ Shepard wondered.

In the corner of her eye Shepard saw Gaines rush to the nearest slave... and be consumed by a blinding fireball.

"Contact!" Shepard yelled as she ran for cover. "Find the shooter!"

She saw a slave thrashing spastically as though fighting his own body, his ragged shirt opened up and Shepard saw a line of sutures and scarred, discoloured flesh across his stomach, then the man exploded killing she could only guess how many fellow slaves and maybe Alliance soldiers.

'_Christ! They've been implanted with bombs!'_ "Shoot the slaves! They've been implanted with bombs! I repeat shoot the slaves!" She yelled hoping there was someone left to hear her.

More explosions. They were the only thing louder than the gunfire and screaming as the slaves charged the Alliance soldiers in a suicidal fashion.

'_We should have anticipated this- intel said the fucking squints use brain implants to control their slaves.'_

Shepard saw her home colony being ravaged as she gunned down the last of the slaves. She backed away from the corpses of the humans she had just killed telling herself it was because she didn't know which had been booby trapped and which hadn't.

* * *

**Medical ship, SSV Solace,**

1st LT Shepard (field promoted) sat in the medbay of the medical ship _SSV Solace _on their way back to Alliance space.

She had just finished a headcount of how many of her unit returned from Torfan. Estimates said that nearly three quarters had died on that ugly rock- mostly via suicide bomb slaves controlled by the cranial implants the Batarians loved to use to ensure loyalty. Survivors (both soldiers and the handful of slaves that were rescued before being implanted) weren't doing so well; McEvoy had lost both legs to a mine and awaited clinical grafts that would take months to grow. Maine had his entire face blown off; he was blinded, deafened, his nose and lips were torn from his skull, leaving red and black burnt flesh atop a skull. Major Kyle had defended himself shooting a ten year old with a bomb in his chest, then completely freaked out- he was currently sedated awaiting psych review- as was Shepard.

A nurse had told her that the war was over. The Prime Minister had declared "Mission accomplished" and called the troops back stating the threat to human colonies had been defeated.

Except that the ones who armed and financed the pirates in the first place were untouched.

Nearly the entire Unit she led to take that slaver base on Torfan were dead.

She had killed the very people she had set out to save.

Her family were dead.

A vid showing polling for upcoming elections explained the reasoning for the cease of hostilities;

"_Prime Minister Makarov's popularity is rising after his successfully bringing the troops home..."_

Clarice turned the vid off angrily. She paced around the Medbay angrily. There were other soldiers being treated but they were sedated or comatose. _'So that's it. The war was unpopular. Convenience before right...'_

_She sat down on her bed. 'What was this... any of this actually for?'_

* * *

**Arcturus station, One month later...**

Weeks had passed since the now infamous raid on Torfan and the war with slavers had been replaced by tales of Aishwarya "Aish" Ashland going into rehab for the fourth time and allegations of cheating in a no limits Quasar tournament held on Illium. Shepard had been declared "Sane and fit for duty" by the Alliance Psychological Stability Board (the headshrinkers as soldiers called them), even though Shepard had spent her free time torturing a punching bag and drinking heavily at the Blue Star lounge- Arcturus' favourite drinking establishment. The only reason she wasn't in the brig was that people knew to give her a wide berth and she wasn't high enough on the totem pole to warrant reporters asking questions- she had seen Earth news reports on the Torfan battle- the fact that some were accusing her soldiers of using excessive force against the Batarians made her want to punch someone.

After briefly going over her application form for Interplanetary Combatives Training (ICT) and hopefully going on, making it all the way to the vaunted N7 grade she made a decision... she turned in her paperwork, weapons and uniform. She resigned from the Alliance military, left Arcturus and never returned...

**END CHAPTER 2**

* * *

**Authors Notes**

**SSV Solace**- In this story the Alliance have dedicated medical ships named after verbs; Relief, Comfort, Mercy.

This chapter was originally a lot longer with large sections detailing Shepard's training as a marine; live fire training, CQB, piloting IFV's, undergoing operations including gene mods and implants, various tech stuff, I removed it as I didn't see it as relevant to the story and was too much dry exposition.

Shepard isn't an N7 in this, she turned down ICT, in ME3 it was stated in Kai Leng's dossier that he was a marine for years and carried out numerous combat missions before being accepted into ICT.

Alliance Psychological Stability Board- no such organisation exists in ME canon, I added it for drama's sakes.

I found no information on how long Systems Alliance tours of service were so I guessed four years.


	3. Wanderer

**WITHIN THE CREED, WITHIN THE EFFECT**

**CHAPTER 3- WANDERER**

**1st August 2012**

**AUTHORS NOTES**

**This is an Assassins Creed/Mass Effect crossover.**

**'_This_' means someone is thinking.**

**Italics alone means the name of something, i.e. _Mass Effect Core_.**

**Horizontal ruler (a line across the page) means a page break or timeskip, may be a few minutes, may be a few hours...**

**-X- means a scene change.**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Assassins Creed, Mass Effect or any of the characters or ideas involved. This is non profit-I am making no money from this.**

* * *

**Terminus Systems, 2181**

Clarice Shepard, formerly of the Systems Alliance Navy sat on the stone floor counting cracks in the walls and ceiling of her cold and dreary cell. For hours now, or perhaps days, (the facility she was in was subterranean and meals were delivered at highly irregular cycles) it was difficult to keep track of time. Doubly hard in solitary confinement, without the routine of forced work at one of the planet Atrum's forced labour camps.

Atrum was a lifeless rock in the Terminus systems, the Ermet system to be exact. It was worthless except for huge amounts of ore buried beneath the surface. Life support machines and Mass Effect fields maintained a barely liveable environment in claustrophobic tunnels as prisoners, slaves and other unfortunates were pressed into work digging up precious metals.

She had only been there for a week and already three groups of hostile aliens had tried to make an example of her; mostly resulting in multiple colours of blood staining the floors. While keeping a grip on all her bodily fluids Clarice hadn't gotten away unscathed, she currently nursed what felt like severely bruised ribs a broken finger and some bruising across her forearm.

The cell door, dented, rusted steel with blue blood stained on it, opened with a whirr and squeak.

A large figure- human walked in; tall, well built, with dark hair, brown eyes.

"I'm tempted to ask; _What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?_" A low, almost gravelly but not unpleasant voice called out.

Clarice studied the man in detail; the way he carried himself said military or cop though even through his nondescript clothing his handsome features could have made him a businessman or male model.

She quickly snapped out of staring at the stranger. Looking too long at someone could get you killed in the Terminus even outside prison.

"I don't do what you want, not for money, or for freedom." She flatly replied having a good idea what he wanted.

"And... what do I want?" He asked innocently, as though seriously asking.

"Sex." She responded tonelessly.

The stranger went red, Clarice was surprised and amused when she saw he looked genuinely mortified. "That's not... I would never... not that you're not a really beautiful... not that the only important thing about women is their looks..." He continued stammering much to Clarice's amusement.

_'An actual good guy... been a while since I've seen one of them...'_ Her mind thought back to how she got into this situation; what happened after she left Arcturus station and the Alliance...

**-X-**

**2178, Days after leaving Arcturus...**

Clarice had just been assaulted for the third time since entering the Terminus. Booking passport aboard a freighter into the most lawless part of the galaxy was not the smartest idea she ever had, and she still wasn't sure why she did it. _'Am I looking for something? Death? A fight?' _

The freighter landed at Erinle; a world in the last stages of habitability, supported only by lucrative mining industry and a huge spaceport. She had only booked one way passage so she went down to the Salarian colony that was attempting to restore the world's lost biodiversity. The facility was disgusting; overcrowded, dirty, various systems in disrepair. She suspected the Salarian Union didn't consider Erinle a very attractive prospect, which made sense given how briefly the amphibious species lived. While there she did countless oddjobs; deliveries, digging, offloading and transporting cargo, even serving drinks at a bar.

She took the first ship leaving the ugly, toxic rock. Which was another dumb decision on Clarice's part as the ship was a refitted Turian _Gelidus_ class Frigate supposedly for civilian use but swarming with mercs.

Problems started when an Asari; tall, the body structure of a ballerina like so many of her people had, her skin light purple with red patterning, motioned for Clarice to join her at a table in the mess hall. The human woman did so, not having much experience with Asari beyond the tales of them being the foremost diplomats of the galaxy. There was nothing diplomatic about the shot to the throat with a finger thrust that sent Clarice into a choking fit, or the elbow strike to the back of the head that sent her to the floor unconscious. She woke up hours later unharmed except her throat and head throbbed horribly.

The second attack came two days later, a couple of Turians (barefaced as the term went) took a shot at her, Clarice took them out, cracking one of the Avian aliens facial carapaces like a dinner plate but suffered cracked ribs and severe bruises in the process.

She swiped some medical supplies from the ships medbay. There was no doctor and a pair of Salarians were hoarding supplies and gouging anyone who needed medical treatment. Shepard took out the opportunistic criminals without being seen but aggravated her wounds in the process. Less than a deck away from her last fight she collapsed to the deck unconscious yet again.

When her eyes painfully reopened and blurred together an Asari standing over her, she immediately went on the offensive and tried to force herself off the... soft bed?

The Asari raised a hand and a field of purple energy appeared and held her down.

"Calm down, you don't want to reopen your wounds do you?" Clarice stopped uselessly trying to thrash against the mass raising energy field for a moment and realised the wounds she suffered in the fight with the Turians and aggravated taking out the shyster Salarians had disappeared.

She blinked and realized the Asari standing above her was not the same one who attacked her two days earlier, this one looked a light shade of blue with glittering emerald green eyes and a pattern of white stripes across her crest. She looked down at Clarice her expression amused.

**-X-**

Back in the present Clarice reddened and shifted uncomfortably, the Asari- Oscuri as she later learned her name- was not someone she could think about without a significant contrast of emotions...

**-X-**

**Back in the past...**

Oscuri, a former Asari Commando and current mercenary recruiter had decided Clarice had potential but a lot to learn.

Between jobs the mysterious Asari taught Shepard things not covered in Marine CQB training- dirty fighting; trust no one, sense the enemies intent, strike first (preferably with something harder than your fist), keep striking until the enemy stops moving. Then strike again. Never hesitate to stab someone in the back or kick them when they're down (as Oscuri pointed out as she gleefully stomped on Clarice's ribs as she lay curled on the floor after a devastating kick to the head).

Through it all Clarice never complained, and she didn't mind how Oscuri nursed her back to health; Medi-Gel, massages of a type too sensual for a gun for a hire (she suspected soldiering wasn't all Oscuri had done but didn't want to appear racist by suggesting that since she was Asari she had to be "highly knowledgeable at matters of physical pleasure" to put it in a politically correct phrase).

And of course, the occasional application of alcohol;

One night (if the term meant something in space) Oscuri picked out a large brown bottle with a colourful label in a language Clarice didn't recognize.

"_Noverian Rum_, I picked it up from an old commando friend of mine. An aloof, paranoid bitch, but excellent management skills and taste in alcohol."

Oscuri forced a glass into Clarice's hand. "I don't drink." Clarice flatly stated remembering some pretty nasty benders on Arcturus after Torfan.

"Sure you do." The Asari replied smiling as though reading her mind.

**-X-**

Clarice woke up the next day, head spinning, vision impaired, completely naked next to a warm and equally naked Asari body. She had a throbbing headache and was as sick as she'd ever been from a hangover. She looked over at the still sleeping Asari;

'_What the hell happened last night...'_

Images came to her; another pain inducing fighting lesson, Noverian Rum, Oscuri and Clarice tearing each other's clothes off as they wrestled on the cabin bed less violently than their fights and then sensations like nothing she'd ever imagined.

Not the way she planned on losing her virginity.

After suffering a few comments about "Human tightness" Clarice said her goodbyes and disembarked the ship thanking the free spirited Asari for the fighting lessons and... other things. The young woman knew without being told that the sex was... not a spiritual bond thing.

She stepped out onto Lorek, a poor, crime ridden colony that officially belonged to the Batarians but actually wavered between a multispecies corporate fiefdom and absolute anarchy from the hordes of criminals present. According to what Clarice had heard from her Alliance version of the Galactic codex, Lorek was originally an Asari world named Esan, the Batarians invaded and occupied it, provoking a minor galactic incident. Proving that they could play dirty as well, the Asari responded by covertly aiding Terminus warlords and criminal gangs in destabilizing the Batarian regime turning the situation into a quagmire for the Hegemony.

A month later Clarice had exhausted her meagre accounts (being an Alliance marine didn't pay much) and faced a new problem beyond bloodthirsty gangs, fascistic military overseers, trigger happy mercs and escaped and desperate slaves; starvation. She hadn't eaten in days. Her body had exhausted its reserves of fat and was consuming her muscles. Soon she would collapse and probably lie rotting in the dirt unless someone decided her torn, filthy clothes or emaciated body parts were worth stealing or harvesting.

She unsteadily walked through a multi-racial marketplace; Batarians, Turians, Salarians, Asari, Elcor, Volus, a reptilian being- a Drell she believed, were all present buying food, guns, armour, programs even a Salarian Mechanized infantry Battlemech, recognizable by its massive, metal gorilla-esque form were all on the market.

She still had her Omni-tool with her; she tapped in a few programs into a broken down terminal, she stepped to a vendor, selling food; _Varren skewers_. The countdown in the terminal expired and the device exploded.

The marketplace erupted; some people stampeded, others looked towards the explosion in awe. Clarice took the opportunity to grab several skewers from the stall and ran with other fleeing sentients.

When she was a safe distance away she bit into the hot, juicy meat and almost fainted from joy. Nothing had ever tasted so good in her life.

She heard a clatter and turned to see a Batarian child, a girl she thought- it was hard to tell. The surge of hatred she felt at seeing four black eyes and grotesque yellowed skin disappeared when she took in the rest of her appearance; old, stained clothing- rags really, cuts across her hands and face, missing teeth. Clearly malnourished, she was so scrawny you could count her ribs. Clarice looked down at the half eaten meat- then handed it to the child. She ran off upon snatching the meat.

Later that day Clarice stole a packet of _Nasa_ fruit and committed to getting the hell off the planet.

Two days later Clarice got herself hired as a hired hand/merc aboard an ecological Ark ship. In the following months she saw a lot of worlds belonging to council races such as the Volus world Zada Ben and the Turian world Aephus. It astonished her that the Galaxy was a seemingly infinite frontier filled with endless wonders and intrigue and yet people couldn't find enough space to leave each other the hell alone.

She jumped ship at Illium and slept in vents for several nights, not wanting to take the risk of being arrested for vagrancy given what she had heard about Illium's corporate practices and what happened to people who fell off the grid. She then signed on to an ore processing ship headed for Omega. She hung around the dreary, dirty, decadent asteroid long enough to learn and do very bad things she didn't like to think about even now, the least of which included stealing from ATM's, hacking computers and hijacking Skycars.

While present on Omega she heard of people who could help her make money- mercs who planned a raid on a Batarian cargo/slave ship heading for Aratoht.

Clarice didn't care about the money, but liked the idea of busting some slaver skulls, she joined up with the mercs; they had no group name unlike the gaudy, trendy groups like Eclipse and the Blue Suns. They consisted of an Elcor (the plan man), a grizzled Turian (fire support) a Volus (computer hacker) and an Asari who tended to a massive sniper rifle in her hands with seemingly maternal care.

The mission went perfectly, the Batarians didn't know what hit them, the other mercs helped themselves to anything that wasn't nailed down from weapons to personal property while Clarice freed the slaves, disabling their implants she sent an anonymous message to the prisoners governments (after her comrades had left of course). She remembered feeling a wave of pride and joy at what she had done, but not who she had done it with.

**-X-**

Time passed, weeks became months, months became years;

Clarice had been with several groups- all conducting raids against 'Bad guys'. The alliances never lasted long- sometimes only a single job and several times they ended with Shepard's allies trying to kill her for a larger share of the profits. Clarice wondered if there was a better way of doing things. _'Still it felt better than the Alliance- no paperwork, no politics, no reporters...'_

Being a mercenary was still illegal in many "civilized" places and eventually one of her team mates sold her out. She remembered soldiers; led by a Turian with burnt and pitted facial plates taking Clarice away in chains to a world she didn't recognise, a barely habitable, god forsaken rock. She gave the fake name she'd been using the last couple of months; Jane Hunt, though she suspected the Turian didn't believe her. She had been in the Terminus long enough to know she wouldn't get a formal internment procedure; a reading of her rights, a judge, a phonecall. Sure enough she was simply tossed into a cell before being roughly transferred to forced labour in Atrum's mines.

* * *

Skip a few fights with the other inmates and that led Clarice to the present moment.

"Who are you? How do you know my name?" She demanded.

The stranger blinked. He took a long breath and chuckled possibly aware how absurd his recent embarrassed rant was.

"I'm Kaidan. Kaidan Alenko. I work for an organization that is very well connected. We've been tracking you for some time. Not easy when following someone with no plan all over the Terminus." He spoke with renewed confidence and a strange amount of gravity despite a seeming laid back and good natured demeanour.

"The organization I work for sent me here to offer you a choice. You joined the Alliance, fought the Batarians, quit when the brass hats lost their nerve..." He took a breath. "And now you take any job that hits bad guys in the baddest parts of the Terminus." He paused again, and gave what sounded almost like a chuckle. "We think you're a rare type of person; a truly good person who truly wants to help people and honestly believes that the strong should protect the weak."

Clarice had to suppress a snort at the stranger's comments. She had heard people try to pick her up in bars with lines like this, it never worked when she was sober. The stranger- Kaidan- continued heedless; "That evil has to be opposed at any cost. The organisation I work for believes the same thing."

Clarice snorted, turned her head away. "More mercs."

"Mercenaries are unscrupulous thugs or people that lose themselves- their souls- to hatred, rage, money. That hasn't happened to you yet."

"So you're not mercs, you're what exactly?" She asked.

"Assassins. But not the kill for cash type." He said seriously.

"What, are they the kill for morality type?" She asked voice heavy with sarcasm.

"Actually yeah. We're a group of professionals sworn to protect life and free will. We don't follow Alliance or Council rules or take orders from politicians. We're not thugs working for the highest bidder either, or sociopaths hiding behind rhetoric like "_It's for the good of humanity_"

He said that last part loudly with over the top quotation marks and a flicker of anger in his voice, Clarice wondered if there was a story there.

"We have a code. Most importantly we eliminate threats the Alliance won't even acknowledge, let alone stand up and fight against."

Clarice thought about this; Mr. mystery man shouldn't be compelling but the sense- that weird feeling she got that always alerted her of danger, of being watched, of the evil in people's hearts... said that this guy was one of the good guys. Also, being able to eliminate the bad guys without politicians screwing you over, reporters sneering at you or the public judging you, with partners who didn't try to shoot you in the back sounded appealing- if it was true.

"Later today, you'll be released from this... lovely place. If you're bored of shooting and blowing up small time crooks... be on this flight at this time two days from now..." He handed Clarice an OSD, she couldn't tell what was on it since the guards took her Omni-tool from her.

"If you choose to come, you may find what you've been looking for these past few years." He turned and left the cell.

"And, what was I looking for?" She asked. Even she didn't know any more.

**END CHAPTER 3**

* * *

**AUTHORS NOTES**

Shepard leaves the Alliance in 2178, and is a wanderer then a mercenary until 2181.

Salarian Battlemech- I decided the Salarians use manned heavy mechs like Cerberus use the Atlas in ME3- it makes sense given the Salarians physical limitations.

I intend to go off canon timeline so don't expect the events of ME1 to occur in 2183 as in canon.


	4. Chapter 4

******WITHIN THE CREED, WITHIN THE EFFECT**

**CHAPTER 4- FOLLOWING THE TRUTH**

**22nd December 2012**

**AUTHORS NOTES**

**This is an Assassins Creed/Mass Effect crossover.**

**'_This_' means someone is thinking.**

**Italics alone means the name of something, i.e. _Mass Effect Core_.**

**Horizontal ruler (a line across the page) means a page break or timeskip, may be a few minutes, may be a few hours...**

**-X- means a scene change.**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Assassins Creed, Mass Effect or any of the characters or ideas involved. This is non profit-I am making no money from this.**

* * *

**In Transit, 2181**

Clarice Shepard, formerly of the Systems Alliance Navy, current _'Soldier of Fortune'_ of the Terminus Systems, and most recently inmate of the Atrum forced labour camp, tried to make herself comfortable as she sat on a container aboard the human cargo ship _MSV Ming_ from Ermet to the starport on the Alliance world of Augustine.

She was alone, the mysterious Kaidan Alenko's instructions on the OSD he had given her told her the captain of the cargo vessel was expecting her and had been paid to give her travel. Her instructions were to continue to Augustine on her own where a contact would meet her on the planet.

She looked around at the cargo hold she had been living in for the past three days; there were no windows- ships like this were expected to last for decades getting pounded by micrometeorites, solar radiation, space debris (in theory a single screw hurtling through space and hitting a weak point of a ship could rupture the hull), the bright white metal crates didn't look like anything illegal, not that she checked, she had learnt that curiosity could kill in recent years.

There was no one around to talk to, not that this was new to Clarice; she had spent most of her time in the Terminus alone, going from one job to another. She had contacts, acquaintances, even a few bed partners. Recreational sex wasn't such a stigma in the 22nd century and Clarice found it helped let her mind disengage from all the killing and destruction she saw around her, Clarice had seen many professional killers (both in the military and freelance) wash away the faces of the dead with alcohol, some used pills, others came apart, PTSD they called it, with the sufferers sometimes becoming a threat to their comrades, their families, even themselves. Rather than go nuts, Clarice decided to just fuck someone and be done with it.

But actual friendship and conversation was rare. Which was fine to the twenty seven year old woman. Most of the time.

She typed away on her Omni-Tool, a _Savant_ _Mark 2_ modified by a former Alliance Intelligence Agency programmer who went on the run after he killed a woman passenger while driving a Skycar while high on the drug _Hyper Drive_. She was looking up information about Assassins _"sworn to protect life and free will"._

She hadn't found much; there was reference to a group called the "Brotherhood of Assassins", the "Order of Assassins" and occasionally simply "the Assassins." They first were mentioned during the fallout of the Abstergo disaster; files taken from databases belonging to conspiracy members mentioned an opposing secret society that had fought with them for centuries over ideologies and ancient relics that were actually alien technology. The stories of the duelling secret organisations and alien relics were ultimately disregarded by the public. The next reference was during World War three, recently declassified documents revealed a number of assassinations of high profile politicians, prominent military industrial members and military personnel of various ranks from captains to a member of the Joint chief of Staff of the old United States of America.

Over the next several decades, conspiracy theorists claimed a secret organisation of killers with no government or national ties were responsible for the deaths of dozens if not hundreds of individuals. What interested Clarice about the supposed targets were that they were all responsible for varying levels of crime and atrocities; from an infamous international arms dealer in 2072, to a bioterrorist hiding under diplomatic immunity in 2090, to a plutocrat who had never been convicted despite being arrested five times on a string of charges as long as Clarice's arm.

The fact that all these people were bastards gave Clarice the hope that she wasn't making a huge mistake by seeking them out.

Shepard suddenly saw the lights on the door change to indicate they had just been locked. She stood up but before she could do anything a wave of dizziness overcame her, her limbs felt like iron weights.

_'Gas...'_ Were her last thought before she passed out.

* * *

Clarice Shepard found herself in darkness. Figures came walking out from the darkness, unidentifiable. They walked closer and Shepard recognised them; her dead family, the dead civilians of Mindoir, their faces were blank their eyes staring through her into the infinite darkness. One face caught her attention and froze her soul.

"Mom?"

Clarice woke up in a start.

She looked around. She was in a dark room. The lighting was nonexistent except for weak rays pouring through a window on one of the grey, riveted walls. She estimated the room was at least the size of the comm room on one of the Alliance carriers she had served on during the attack on the Torfan slaver port. Her keen eyes made out shapes resembling furniture. A solid looking hatch seemed to be the only way in or out of the room.

She leapt up from the coach she was laid out on. She looked around at the strange unfamiliar room she was in. Her first instinct was to find a weapon, or something that could be used as such.

She went over to a nearby wall and pressed a switch- not a haptic holo interface, but an actual ancient physical switch that turned lights on.

Something exploded in the middle of the room, within seconds the compartment filled with a grey gas. Clarice tried to open the hatch nearest her to escape but it was locked. The gas overtook her and she realized this time it wasn't knockout gas but it did burn her eyes so badly she had to close them. She felt a familiar sensation in her mind, one that had seemed to become stronger during her time in the Terminus;

_'Duck!'_

She obeyed the instinct and heard something swish over her head. _'That was a bat or worse.'_ She rolled, trying to force her eyes to open but they remained closed. Her strange intuition struck again and she backpedalled as something again swished past her, this time close enough for her to feel the air moving.

'_Stay calm. Stay calm and you can find them.'_Time seemed to slow down, Clarice could feel her heart beating, hear her pulse pounding as images appeared in her mind; a room, about the size of a cargo bay aboard a Monitor class Cruiser, shapes that she believed were furniture, a catwalk, pillars for the catwalk, and three angry red forms moving about encircling her. Following the strange map in her mind she picked a small box up off the ground and hurled it into the blinding mist, one of the red figures dodged it effortlessly, she heard the footsteps as the enemy leapt proving she wasn't imagining things. Another red figure charged her from the front. Without vision they both traded blows, with Clarice holding her own against the clearly skilled opponent.

Unfortunately she was so focused on the enemy directly attacking her that she didn't pay enough attention to a second one moving to her side. Clarice moved at the last second but was unable to avoid the attack; something hit her in the side, all the muscles in her body seized up paralysing her, her nerves ignited in agony. Clarice fell to the ground but being no stranger to pain amazingly stayed conscious.

The gas was vented from the room; three individuals in odd white clothing gathered around the fallen woman.

"Is she hurt?" A voice called out over an intercom.

"No, I just hit her with a stun level nerve disruptor." One of the hooded figures responded.

"She used the sixth sense to track our movements and map the terrain... you're certain she was never trained at this..." The second man standing over her spoke, Clarice blacked out before she could hear the other two's comments.

**-X-**

Clarice woke up in a start again, this time lying on a comfortable medical bed. She looked around and saw she was in a medical bay. She decided to get up and leave before whoever attacked her came back.

She nearly jumped when a space that was unoccupied a second earlier was now dominated by a stranger; a male appearing in his forties of apparent middle eastern descent, he wore white; white trousers, white hooded shirt, even white shoes. He stared coldly at Clarice with dark eyes that betrayed confidence, or possibly arrogance. It depended on the stranger's skill. Clarice backed away knowing only a trained professional could appear so silently.

CRUNCH

Clarice spun around at the sound and saw a man eating an apple wearing the same white pants and boots as the first man, the hooded shirt was gone though and he wore a t-shirt with a strange intricate floral pattern on it. He had olive skin, dark eyes and dark brown hair and appeared in his twenties. He smiled boyishly and waved at Clarice merrily.

Clarice backed away trying to keep both strangers in sight at all times. She barely kept in a jump as she saw yet another white clad newcomer- this time a huge, muscular, hooded figure who was heavily armed; an M3 Predator sat in a holster on his right side, a huge near- machete sized blade occupied a holster on his left hip, a Bowie knife or similar bladed weapon was held in a sash across his massive chest, a rifle was slung across his back and he had what looked like concealed blades in thick combat boots. What little of his flesh that was uncovered was decorated with tattoos, some kind of ancient tribal designs. She sensed another presence behind her and turned to Kaidan Alenko who looked like a choir boy compared to the others.

"Hi!" He said before looking away. Clarice followed his gaze.

Yet another newcomer appeared, wearing an immaculate suit (white of course), he looked old enough to be Clarice's grandfather, he had a short, trimmed beard, his ethnicity was difficult to ascertain, with his skin tone and facial features Clarice suspected there was Samoan or Hawaiian in there.

"Good evening Clarice, please forgive the gas- on the shuttle it was necessary to be certain you were not an infiltrator. In the room you first woke up in it was necessary to prove something we already suspected."

Clarice waited for the stranger to continue.

"Back in the room with the smoke, and probably at many occasions in time of danger, what you experienced was not "intuition" it was a form of low level telepathy- an ability to sense other minds- at least enough to discern their exact location and intent... only a handful of humans can do this. With training you can control these abilities. My name is Alekanedero Kahoku, I run things around here."

"Run what exactly? Your guy Alenko didn't go into specifics."

"Our order believes in a strong set of values that strictly govern our way of life;"

A long double edged black dagger appeared from Kahoku's sleeve. Clarice stared at the ancient weapon; the mercs of the Terminus generally used omni-blade weapons or biotics for close quarters work.

"Stay your blade from the flesh of an innocent."

"Hide in plain sight, be one with the crowd." Clarice spun to see yet another stranger appear behind her, mere inches away, an Asian woman with strange purple paint on her lip and chin. She was so close she could actually smell her last meal. Something spicy.

_'What is with these guys and sneaking up on you?'_

"Never compromise the order." Kahoku stopped speaking. His voice carried finality.

"You call yourself assassins. Assassins for who?"

"We carry out our duties using political and strategic assassinations. Our hope is that killing one individual may lead to the salvation of thousands. We fight, work for, those who don't possess the power or knowledge to stand against those who abuse their power. As for our name- we hide behind shell and front companies that finance us, we have had countless names- at one time we were _Liberalis circulum_, in another we were the _Hashashin_."

The last name was vaguely familiar to Clarice.

"Ultimately what we are, who we are, is ones who kill, hence the order of Assassins." There was no theatricality in his demeanour, just grave fact.

"You're taking a big risk bringing me here." She said, expertly hiding the fact that she feared they'd kill her if she didn't kill as effectively and ruthlessly as they did.

"Yes we are. You have a very interesting history, Clarice. One that would make many concerned about your mental state." He pressed a key on his Omni tool, holographic images appeared near a wall adorned by a large symbol that Clarice thought looked like an over stylised letter "A". The images were of Mindoir; specifically Green Frontier, the town she grew up in, the images were of fire and horror, of history and families turning to ash.

Clarice felt anger rising in her as the images changed to happy images; holophotos of her and her family, together, without a care in the world. Her father Mark with his bride at their wedding aboard the Alliance carrier _Enrique Aguilar_. Her mother Jenifer holding her youngest child Fiona at her tenth birthday party. And finally her older brother Dean standing with Clarice herself, his arm around her younger sister and a goofy smile on his face. Clarice could only stare at the images straining to keep her from breaking down. Years in the Terminus around predators had taught her that showing weakness would get you killed.

"Your family were killed by Batarian slavers. You watched them die, or at least saw their bodies on the day." She could feel his stare on her. _'Probably expects me to break down and cry...'_

The images changed again, this time to an officially signed Alliance military report. _'The hell did they get their hands on this?'_

"According to the official Alliance report, after discovering the bodies of your father, mother and sister, you went to the roof of your prefabricated home with your fathers hunting rifle and killed... eight Batarians?"

"Well four of them I killed because they were stupid enough to stand next to explosive barrels..." Clarice wondered who trained them in area awareness.

"Still, incredible feat for a civilian minor with no combat training. Perhaps as impressive as being able to go it alone on Elysium for two years, putting yourself through school, supporting yourself with a job, then choosing to join the Alliance military. Although it does raise the question of why you refused a foster family."

"I didn't want to deal with people who think I'm damaged. Is this the part where you ask me about my feelings or about my dreams?" She asked getting angry.

He was sounding exactly like the damned shrink who tried to stick her in a foster home, or the other shrink who tried to get her benched on Psych leave after Torfan.

"What's the point of this? Why do you care if your hired killers are right in the head or not?"

"Many people who know us would say we are not right in the head, but we are more than hired killers, so are you."

"Upon entering the Terminus, you remained an independent contractor, you refused offers from larger merc groups like the Blue Suns to join them and remained alone, even though doing so isn't wise in the places you've been. Images of bodies and destruction flickered on to the vidscreen. Clarice recognised the handiwork- hers.

"Adran Hyrius, former Turian Atermentarii, turned big time saboteur, assassin and cyberterrorist, shot through the head while in a speeding skycar in Chaltria on Illium.

Clarice remembered that hit. She liked Illium, especially the people there... she barely suppressed a blush as blurs of naked blue and violet flesh flashed through her memories.

"Somam Madrus, Salarian chemist, one of Illium's largest distributors of the drug Hyper drive for the Latas syndicate. Throat slit, his lab burned to ashes, eight bodyguards bypassed. Frederick Lowell, former UNAS Marine Corps, turned hired gun, eliminated before he could kill an Illium detective who was closing in on evidence that ended up shutting down a big time Red Sand dealer. Jana B'ari, former Asari huntress turned leader of a prostitution and slavery ring on Omega-"

"I killed all these guys in case there was any doubt." Shepard interrupted. "They were all evil people who chose to kill and victimize people. What's the point of this?"

"The fact that they were indeed evil was the point. You chose to stand alone in the most dangerous parts of the Galaxy and targeted only evil people, regardless of race. That takes courage, clarity and conviction." _'Or stupidity.'_ Clarice thought.

"That is why I believe you have what it takes to become one of us, the question is, do you want to be one of us? We kill Shepard, we can truthfully claim that we do so to make the Galaxy a better place but ultimately murder is our method, our way, our truth."

"What is your method, your way, your truth?"

Clarice stopped and thought, he knew Kahoku was giving her a way out, a chance to leave and... _'And what? Go back to running and gunning for my life from one shithole to the next?'_

"Alright, I'm in."

* * *

**END CHAPTER 4**

**AUTHORS NOTES**

**Original content;**

Atermentarii- (mix of Ater- latin for dark and Frumentarii- the secret service of the Roman Empire.) Original to this fic they are the intelligence gathering agency of the Turian Hierarchy consisting of military and law enforcement veterans who engage in infiltration, reconnaissance, sabotage and assassination.

Alliance Intelligence Agency- the Systems Alliance's answer to organisation like the Salarian Special Tasks Group and Turian Atermentarii, originally formed in 2158 from agents and assets of various Alliance member countries intelligence agencies (CIA, FSB, etc).

Hyper Drive- a narcotic made from a plant discovered on Terra Nova- it hyper accelerates nerve conduction velocity increasing physical speed, reaction response as well as thinking. It is often used as a study aid for people revising information. It can kill by causing damage to the brain, cardiopulmonary system, kidney failure and nerve damage.

Chaltria- a city on Illium smaller than Nos Astra, made from a merger of the names Chalcis and Eretrea, two polis in Ancient Greece.

Latas- Original crime group I made up (latas is hungarian for vision). It annoys me that all crime in the Mass Effect Universe seems to include one of a handful of crime syndicates (almost always involving Omega) and one of three mercenary groups.


End file.
